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It was the first really warm day this spring in the great white north (the southernmost part of it). My wife and I drove the '40 Packard to the Thamesford,Ontario Lions car show. As usual,of the hundred plus cars there,there were only a handful of unmolested cars .Admittance was $10,for the Canadian Cancer Society.That's fine. We parked between an Anglia dragster and a sweet '32 Pontiac Deluxe sedan. We pulled out the lawn chairs and settled down.Then the "music" started, golden oldies so loud that you had to shout to carry on a conversion. After politely asking the DJ to drop the sound a few hundred decibels and being told that the people at the back couldn't hear if he did, we packed up and left before noon. It's sad that you can't even support the local service clubs without being assailed by rock concert level "music".
Am I alone feeling this way? Does simple civil conversation have to take a back seat to this crap ??
Rant mode off.
Jim

Drove my 1941 Buick Series A Special Coupe 322 miles (518km) to a car event in the country here in South Australia. The car ran like a dream. Nothing like getting out on the open road. Since getting the car on the road, I've covered 2,700 miles (4345km) in 7 months. Many more miles to come!

You are NOT alone. I pretty much gave up on going to the local Medford Cruise and shows simply because of the loud, obnoxious music they just HAVE to blast at us. I HATE it! AND....you must PAY to participate. Gimme the old days when you showed your car for a free lunch and spectators that didn't need to be entertained with loud music in order to have fun. Call me an old fogey if you like.

I know little about cars – pre-war or post-war — so I hope it is not disrespectful or presumptuous for me to weigh in on this discussion. And maybe it is “off-topic” and for that I apologize. Aside from the fact, that I understand why someone wants to sell a car at a decent price, my broader question is what do people expect or hope to get out of a hobby that they enjoy? Any hobby — cars, boats, golf, knitting, artwork, writing, etc. etc. At my age, I think about this a lot because I’ll be retiring in February — and because I already have more time to devote to hobbies than I did when I was younger.
I love creative art projects – all kinds — mostly on the computer these days. Half of them get started and then abandoned, and I don't get paid for most of them. I do them for fun – for myself. It would be totally depressing if I totaled up the thousands of dollars I’ve spent over the years on hardware, software, classes, canvasses, specialty paints, fancy art brushes, etc. Some of that stuff is sitting on the shelf in my art closet – unopened! I’ve sold a few paintings, and I get paid to design magazines, but none of it has ever come close to the amount of money I’ve spent on “supplies”. Has it been worth it? Hell, YES!
My husband bought a houseboat when our twin boys were in 4thgrade. Sold it years later when the kids no longer wanted to spend weekends at the lake away from their friends. It was my husband’s “hobby” for all those years, and we sold that dang boat for a fraction of what we had spent on it, even though we had added all sorts of extras and spent way too much money keeping it running well. When we now ask our grown sons what their favorite childhood memory is, it’s always the same – spending time on the houseboat. So it was an investment that reaped rewards, though not financial ones. Was it worth it? YES!
When I try to explain to people what the BCA is, I always start by saying that it’s a group of people with the same interest – CARS (in this case, mostly Buicks). Whether it’s collecting cars or working on cars – or driving them – or showing them, or just conversing with other people who also love cars, it’s basically a hobby, not an investment. I know it would be good to get back what you’ve put into your cars, but really – isn’t it so fun to have something you love doing - to feel passionate and energized by your car(s)? If you can afford it, just let someone else worry about these cars when you are gone. As trite as it sounds, doesn’t the quote “the journey matters more than the destination” apply to our hobbies?

Feel free to keep shuffling chairs on the Titanic.
The sentiment you're expressing is part of what will hold this hobby back. The notion that we want young people involved, but they need to act like old people to be accepted is pure poison. One person with a strong Youtube following could do more for old cars then every member of the AACA combined.

Earl, if you're willing to take $40K for that lovely Buick and he has it listed for more than $60,000, that's a fishing expedition and fishing expeditions never work. There are no suckers left. What really happens is that the overpriced car gets old on the market and by the time you mark it down to the right price, all the buyers are gone. They've already seen it and moved on or worse, they assume something is wrong with it--otherwise, why didn't someone else already buy it? That kind of egregious margin is what is killing the sale of your Buick, no other reason. Nobody's going to offer $40K on a $62,000+ ask--they wouldn't even suspect such a thing was remotely possible. If, for example, I price a car at $64,900, that means I can probably sell it for $58-60,000. Not $38-40,000. That's an absolutely insane margin. Nobody's going to put up a reasonable offer against that. Nobody. They [rightly] assume that a $40,000 offer on a $62,000 ask would be insulting and embarrassing.
In addition, it's a pretty serious marketing issue. You'll note that every single car sales website has the ability to sort and search by price. A great many buyers will put their ceiling in there and see what's available. If you have $40,000 to spend, you want to see all the cars that cost between $0 and $40,000. So even if someone is punching in the $40,000 that you'd actually accept, they're not even SEEING your car, never mind thinking they can actually own it. Your dealer is eliminating a substantial number of buyers before they've even seen your car.
I'm seeing the problem here and it ain't fender skirts...

Sounds like you're demanding a safe space more than any of the kids. The kids aren't telling you to keep out of their clubs, they're not telling you that your car is uninteresting, they're not telling you that you're foolish for not embracing technology. In fact, I bet if you showed up with your Model T at one of their events, you'd be treated like a celebrity and there would be a great deal of curiosity about the machinery. Would a kid with, say, a 1988 Honda Prelude (which is AACA eligible) feel the same at Hershey? We all know the answer to that one.
There's a group very loudly demanding that the world conform to their wants, but it doesn't appear to be the kids...

This.
A primary factor driving all segments of the hobby is sentiment and memories. Earl bought his '39 Buick because of the pleasant memories he has of his father's '39 Buick. I have a '41 Buick because my father had one. I bet most of you have a similar story behind the cars you own. There's an emotional connection, what I call a touchstone, to certain cars that drives the way you participate in the hobby.
That's not the ONLY factor, of course, but it certainly shouldn't be a surprise that kids today don't really have a touchstone to anything that old. Their 60-something fathers probably have muscle cars, not antiques, which were the cars of THEIR youth. Today's young hobbyists probably drove Toyota Corollas and Ford Tauruses in high school, not '52 Chevys they bought for $65 and slapped on a set of Fenton headers. The touchstone just isn't there for pre-war cars and younger people unless they've been in the hobby with their parents who also collected pre-war cars (and it is likely that the only reason THEY collect pre-war cars is because THEIR parents did).
I suspect it was the same years back when everyone in the hobby was wondering why the hell all those fools would want to collect '50s cars or muscle cars. It's normal and it's time marching on.
I don't think there's anything we can do to make young kids like older cars if they aren't predisposed to that already. I was weird in high school because I wanted a Model A to drive every day in the '80s (my father had one), and it's certainly not going to be any better today. My friends had 5.0 Mustangs and Camaros and Chevy Blazers, while I had a '76 Eldorado convertible that I scraped off the pavement when my father was done abusing it. Exposure is the best way to promote the older cars, but to assume that if those stupid young people would just get out of their phones and listen to us that '30s cars are better, they'd want them, well, that's just not gonna happen.
What will happen is values will decline rapidly on cars that older people are selling and younger people don't want until they're cheap enough that young people can afford to buy them out of curiosity. The same kids who are farming in New York City and making hand-crafted knives in blacksmith forges. They won't have any idea what they're getting into, but they'll be curious and maybe the cycle will start all over. Maybe. The only thing that I can guarantee is that someone will always own the cars and values on anything but top-shelf exotic stuff are going to fall and fall hard. Sorry.
Enjoy your cars and the time you have. Forget the money. Like vacations, hobbies aren't supposed to pay you back for participating. I guarantee the guy with the used golf clubs in Bernie's post isn't expecting to make a profit on their sale...

On Saturday, May 4, I took out my '63 Electra 225 and pretty much repeated the drive I took with my '57 Roadmaster a few weeks earlier in April. (The Roadmaster photos were posted in this thread a few weeks ago.) The day started out pretty cold, so I drove up to Wisconsin with the top up. By mid-day with the sun shining, it was warm enough to put the top down.
Ike
The photos below were taken near the boat launch in Williams Bay, WI, on Lake Geneva.

With no place in particular to go, and a late start to boot, added just 30 miles to the '56 tonite. It is just such an easy ride... except the seats are really in need of rebuilding...But here's a few pics from my tour.
The Magnolia's are past peak here, while other trees are yet to bloom?
It's a challenge to find a babbling brook where you can actually stop for a photo and get the water in the picture. This is the first time I was on this back road and caught this one.
Just liked the background here.
Same location with the sun dropping quickly
Another "field" view
And the last shot for the evening. After 10 days of rain this pond was full!

Grandson Nathan, soon to be a college senior, was probably about 2-1/2 or 3 years old and always loved “HIS” Buick’s, the 1914 B-37, the 1937 80C Phaeton, and especially “HIS” 1934 Model 34-57 Sidemounted sedan with the trunk!
The Goddess of Speed was Nate’s friend - the Little Man on his 1934 Buick 34-57. When Nate stood on a box (or the front bumper), they were EYE TO EYE. Fortunately Nate didn’t know how easily it could be removed.
When I drove, Nate could shift the floor- mounted 3/speed transmission like a pro, and when grandma wasn’t watching he would sit on my lap and steer like it was made for him.
The Buick has since moved on to Nevada, and my little grandson, still playing my trumpet and planning to be a Symphony musician, is quite grown, but thankfully photos (and memories) are prone to linger.

I have a deal to pull them out and bring them home...I will give everyone a chance to save parts before I scrap them. Some cars have titles. I will take detailed photos of the cars when they hit the ground here. I have until June 1 to move all 8.

I have to pass on my thanks to @JohnD1956 and indirectly to @Pete Phillips for the events of this past weekend. Apparently, Collectible Automobile magazine is doing a feature on 77-79 Full size Buick’s, and they were needing shots of an Estate Wagon. The magazine called Pete, Pete messaged John and as John no longer has his EW, John messaged me.
Needless to say I was thrilled and the editor was in contact with me on Thursday. He arranged for a local photographer to shoot the car, and that happened on Sunday. It was quite the turnaround and led to me spending 6 hours detailing the car for the photo shoot over Saturday and Sunday morning. I never thought anything like this would happen to this car (which I still use for camping and lumber runs) but thanks to the friendships within this club, it has!
Looking forward to seeing the article in the Dec 2019 issue! I had to apologize to the photographer and mention this is an “archive” car so I can’t paint under the hood, but at least could get most things shiny. Here are a couple of shots I took as the photographer did his thing yesterday.

This Sunday, I drove my 1937 Model 61 to the Opening Reception and Registration Pickup for the AACA 2019 Southeastern Divisional Tour. We had a fun 3 days of touring on Monday-Wednesday with beautiful weather. Cars present on the tour included many Buicks. The most interesting ones to me were probably the 1910 Buick and 1912 Buick. I got photos of both cars but never managed to get photos of them side by side.

Well it's not pretty, but she's back together. The parts are less than ideal, but they're solid for the most part (at least the grill pieces are). After mounting, I found that the bumper had indeed been pushed in on the driver side, so I just need to shim it out about 1/8" to get the parts to line up. The hood has rust through on the inside stamped sheet metal and the fender, while mostly solid, is pretty rough. I've found it difficult to find affordable hood and fenders that I can forward to the insurance company, so I may try to have the original hood and fender straightened on their dime, since it was included in the base cost analysis. If you didn't notice from the photo, the black fender is also rolled at the seam that is parallel to the hood, so the fitment is near impossible (gap is correct at the base and end by the windshield, nearly touching in the center).
Also, I think I've narrowed down the vibration issues I've been having. Around town here, when slowing down there's been a thud thud thud thud when stopping or accelerating. Moreover, halfway back to school all symptoms had vanished and then re-appeared after some braking. I also discovered that my driver side rear axle seals are leaking. So my new theories are that either a cord or band in the tire blew, causing out of balance/out of round conditions, the wheel is no longer balanced itself, or I have sticking brakes at high speed, which I have also encountered before when I had drums on the front. I have had U-joint failure before on other cars, it's a constant thing and not something that goes away after driving a long time, nor get better. It also can't be wheel bearings - there is no noise and they are tight in the hub, and new. When I pulled the hubs after getting home, the bearings were still good and not discolored, gouged, scored or whatever else. I know suspension can also cause vibration at highway speeds (seems 65-70 is the normal speed harmonic for which all cars experience some type of balance vibration), but my tie rods haven't been adjusted in 3 years now. I'm hoping I can get the tie rods adjusted when I get this steering box flange made, hopefully tomorrow.
Speaking of steering box flange... I used this as a reference and rough starting point for my analysis. Specifically, I went to the upper end and assumed a lateral force exerted on the steering box of 1500 N to give a little wiggle room since tires and such are different. After using a design insight plot to thin out the center (and with a 2.7 FOS, I probably could have gotten away with more), I arrived at the final design with the hollow cut out. Also, for comparison, I made a .125" study (the base piece is .25" thick). It's not feasible anyways with the countersink holes, but I still wanted to see what the halved thickness would do, and it dropped the FOS by quite a bit. FOS being the factor of safety. I hope this helps with my justification for the lighting in the center. With a 2.7 FOS at the upper end of the perceived viewed forces acting laterally on the steering box (and flange by default), I think this design is bulletproof. However, it still requires actual real life testing. My experience with this program has been accurate 100% of the time when it comes to static studies, regardless, so my confidence is high. Forgot to mention, the material used is a generic mild steel, which would be available in extruded flat stock at any local metal retailer or possibly hardware store.

… what an impressive magazine! Seriously, non-ROA members, if you are on the fence about signing up—the magazine is easily worth the price of membership.
I just received the May/June issue, and it's another good one. A great mix of informative articles, features on member's cars, and (of course) classifieds to get some of us in trouble.
I get a lot of automobile-related printed material, and this puts many larger organizations to shame. If I'm reading the masthead correctly, credit goes to Ray Knott, Bob Wannall, and Michelle Finney.

Was a beautiful day yesterday and so I took the convertible to Marywood University for music practice with the wind ensemble. We are practicing the music for the graduation ceremony right around the corner.
The Director of music loves my car and asked if he could sit in her. Of course.....
My tuba sitting by the car in the first picture.

Just drive it.........keep some extra paint on hand. It’s a car..........the plastic looks ridiculous. Yes......I put my money where my mouth is, my 99.25 point Pierce Arrow V-12 has 22k miles on it.................as my motto in my signature area says.......drive it like you stole it. Trust me........just drive and enjoy the car. That’s almost fifty years in the hobby speaking. 👍

If the sound has to be turned up in order for the people in back to hear, the sound system is inadequate. There should be enough speakers in the area to provide good music at a level that is comfortable for everyone, regardless of where they are located. I have been to too many events where the DJs don't know how to set up their system correctly; or they drive the under-powered amplifiers to distortion in order to raise the volume. Any music is offensive if the sound system is poor. If you can't afford a quality sound system at your car show, dispense with the music.

Considering the number of times California has run out of electricity, compared with the number of times they have run out of gas, I don't know how it is going to work when they double the demand for electricity to run all the cars, trucks and buses.
Maybe they will put the homeless and illegals to work pulling rickshaws ( sarkylert)

The local Caddy and my local Buick Club chapters got together for a "lawn show" at the Saratoga Auto Museum. Unlike the past few years, this year was dry and sunny, albeit a little cool this am. I think there were close to 50 cars, but I did not count em. I did take some photos but like many times before, I am not thrilled with the clarity of the shots. Here are some that were salvageable.
I believe this was only about 15 miles for the Electra, but it was still great to drive it!
1970 GSX, 4 speed. If the owner registered it he did not display his windshield card, so there was no information available on this vehicle. But it was a beautiful car!
I think this is a 66 Eldorado.
A 1973 Caddy Coupe De Ville.
A row of Chapter cars.
Two 68 Caddy's in the same color, one a Coupe, the other a 4 dr hard top sedan.
A '49 Special. Yes, it is a '49, before the body was changed to that of the '50
A 1940 LaSalle
And a '37 LaSalle, driven close to 50 miles to get here.
A super clean '63 model 62.
A new 2019 Regal GS . Turbo Charged V6.
1940 Century.
And a '56 Coupe De Ville. I did not get a picture but this car has another 3-4 inches in length, in the trunk, than my '56 Super! This picture sucks! The car is drop dead gorgeous!
Members Tom and Diane with their '66 Electra. This car always wins awards. It has a green interior, which is not readily evident in this picture.
This 63 Riviera was on display inside the museum. That white interior looks like no one ever sat in it.
Also inside was this car, which I have never seen before in person.
And out on the show field again sat my favorite, this lonely, but well loved, Queen!

While it was a beautiful day yesterday, I had no opportunity to get a car out for a ride. And while today is cloudy and cool, at least it is still dry, so wandered off for a 30 mile jaunt in the Happy Car! The thing is, it had a hiccup this am. While waiting for a traffic snarl first thing this am, it dropped out of drive by itself. When I went to start off it did not want to move. Then a few seconds after raising the idle a little it caught up with itself and took off. Tranny fluid was a little low, maybe a quart, but I only had a pint on hand, so I put that in at least. Then the rest of the ride it was like normal. Being a 58K car, I am not going to worry too much about it unless it starts to burn up the trans fluid.
And on another road less traveled...

Finally!
I actually drove three cars today, although two of them barely count. I had to move the Wildcat to get the Skyhawk out. I had a boy along to drive the Skyhawk home from the country spot while I drove the Estate Wagon.

Does last 2 weekends count?
Took the old girl to get her first bath since purchasing our 1927 Standard!
Before and after, IMHO for a quick wash and one coat of yellow wax by hand I think “she shined up real good” as my Grandmother used to say!
Enjoy.....
ps, white walls will be hit with bleach white the next time I have her out!!

First day without rain in a week made for a wonderful drive to first Monday trade days followed by a great lunch and a couple summer shandies to welcome back the sun for a couple days. All made the better having an out of state friend in town who has never gotten to experience the joy of a leisurely 20 mile morning drive in an old Buick. Now she wants to buy one !

Careful though as those that drive electric cars will also be those that institute policy then law to eliminate the use and possibly even ownership of any non electric vehicle as since they are fine with their's why should we need one. I could see it happening quite easily with a stroke of the pen in the dark of night, tucked into some other urgent legislation. It's been tried and sometimes successfully with other things. We all know not all legislation is drafted through careful thought and debate but often in feel good sessions where one person can say they eliminated those foul vehicles to save the planet.
I don't smoke and never have but I see smokers getting pushed around pretty well to the point of making it nearly illegal. While I think smoking is bad, I don't like seeing the rights trampled on because I can easily transpose that battle over to old cars. Surprised there already hasn't been a harder push to get our archaic vehicles off the road in the name of safety .
I told my son today when he was questioning me about some car stuff while i was prepping my truck for a run to Rhinebeck tomorrow and told him no matter how safe you try to make a new car a bad driver will always be a bad driver.
Good intentions often get hijacked along the way.

Here's how it is at this moment. There is a bit of regrading to do in the front, and inside you can seee that one wall is finished with steel panels, and the rest will be the same. You can also see. I hope, how nice the floor is.
I will epoxy coat the surface after the curing is finished, then the electrical gets done. But for now it is done, but I don't want to park any leaky Buicks (or anything else) inside till the floor is coated.
Keith

My grandson now plays the Bach Stradivarius trumpet which was custom designed and made for me in 1954 by the master - Vincent Bach when his studio was still in New York.
The day I met my wife back in 1968 I was visiting her home town of New Orleans. We met accidentally through my band's piano player and his fiancee, jumped a streetcar and went to the French Quarter. Either my trumpet or I (apparently ) impressed her by being invited to sit in with some of the best bands on Bourbon Street:
Pete Fountain, Ronnie Cole, Dukes of Dixieland, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Papa Jack Assunto, and finally - Al Hirt, in whose big band I later played.
We started dating that day and married 14 months later. I still pick up the trumpet, baritone horn, and valve trombone once in a while, but bring the trumpet to Glidden and Founders tours. My singing could get me kicked out of some of the finer establishments.
The old car world includes folks with diverse talents.

I took The Aqua Zephyr out to the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival Car Show today. The weather was a little iffy early in the morning but cleared up nicely by noon. Ours was only one of two Buicks at the show, which isn't unusual for where I live.
Surprise! The Zephyr earned a Top 5 Antique Vehicle award.

Don't you love it when someone you know drops a little, old car related gift off to you? Sometimes, it will be a non-old car person that just knows you would like an item that they have received. Here are a couple of MANY items that have been given to me by friends or folks who just know that I love old cars and would like these items. It's true....I DO love toys and other car related items besides the cars themselves. Most of us here could probably admit this.
The ashtray was given to me by a good friend years ago. He said, "You should probably have this on YOUR desk." So, I do. I look at it every day and think of my buddy, Tom in Vancouver, Washington.
The Buick Century die cast model was given to me by my honey's cousin today.

The great day arrived! On April 12 1997, I could put the body on the frame. The way I did it was a little bit criminal with blocks of wood on top of the jack stands. I had to go under the body to lift it and put the wood blocks on the other side as the body was near to the wall. Some say: to make life interesting, you have to take one risk each day. With this, I took a risk for the whole year!
Fortunately, even if the whole was very unstable, nothing happens. Eyes must be overall: is the frame in the middle of the body? nothing is touching the body? (especially with my "construction") engine? transmission?
At the end of the afternoon, the body was on the frame, attached with the screws.It began again to look like a car!
The next step was to assemble all the body parts and begin with filling, sanding, etc. A long and annoying work.

Car pictured is mine, it is a 33 CT conv sedan and qualifies me as nuts, stupid or both. Major job, but atleast i am saving one from the scrap or street rod. Bill that 30 Chrysler in the door is a CJ Sport Coupe. Also working on a 31 CD 3rd series Royal 5pass Coupe that was seen on this sight a few years back. That car is now in color and will be going back on the frame sometime this summer. Photos will be forthcoming. Another major job but worth the effort. I must be crazy........Rob

One of the car shows my father took me to , in about 1970 had music. Most at that time did not, around here at least. Live band, Bill Haley and the Comets. Still on the circuit in 1970, entertaining and making a living. I was only just a teenager and was only vaguely aware of who Bill Haley was, but I didn't mind them. My father really liked seeing them live, it was the music of his youth. I would have preferred the Who or the Stones but I guess they weren't doing car shows that year.
Greg in Canada

It is not just pre war Buicks (or any brand for that fact) , it is most cars in general. This market condition is lamented in just about any organized car event one attends. I am not certain there is an answer, or plan that can be activated to change the observed course.
I believe that most people interested in cars are attracted to those that they had in High School. If there is any validity to that, then todays youth would have to first have disposable income and then would long for what was popular when they were 16- 18 years old. This does not mean they cannot appreciate older cars, nor that they enjoy seeing them. But if the choice for a 30 year old was between your '39 and possibly a hot car from 1990, then chances are they would opt for the 1990.
I also believe that there were very few hot cars in 1990. And that most cars were just considered to be transportation. As such, a vast majority of teenagers in 1990 learned to just view a car as a means of moving their bodies and personal property around. In other words, there are significantly less people who developed a love for cars as a hobby. And I would also suggest that it is very difficult for a huge amount of 30 yr olds to justify spending money on any vehicle that is not their daily driver.
Besides the lack of earning power, there is the inability to save any excess income because it seems there really is no excess income. I offer as proof of that the fact that several appliances are readily considered to have a life span of 10 years. My washer and dryer, 10 year life expectancy. Hot water heaters, 10 years, Refrigerators, 10 years. Everytime you turn around you need to replace another major appliance. And for many years I had to do that on credit, which adds to the drain on the finances. So even if many lust after your car, chances are good they cannot swing the financial end.
Lastly there is the technological gap. Where-as you and I grew up with the cars we own, and learned to take care of them and do minor repair jobs, todays cars seem to be so complicated that the parents of todays youth have to bring the car for service when it is needed. The kids see this and in my opinion come to believe only service technicians can work on any car, new or old. So the kids may not develop the confidence in their ability to repair an older car and in what I've noticed, seem to believe that old cars are more complicated to own than new cars. There-by scaring many younger folks from entering the old car market.
OF course, this does not answer your needs, selling your car. It is sad to say but the fact is our cars will survive us. And at that point we will not control their destiny. It will be a hard financial hit to all of us in this hobby. Our choice is to take the financial hit now while we are alive, or pass it on to our survivors.
All of this is just my opinion and open for discussion of course.

Delivered the Limited to Tim Shaffer Design-Fabrication-Welding in Mantua, Ohio last week and he's started on the entirely new exhaust system. Getting it into his garage was a bit of an ordeal, since it's uphill from where we took it off the trailer. Fired it up and let it run through the open headers--woot! The thing sounded like it wanted to eat your children!
We're using 100% stainless and while it will be a close approximation of the original system, we're going to take some liberties with routing and configuration just to make it fit better. He's already got the old system out and is mocking up the new system starting with locating the muffler amidships. He's promised to send photos as he works, and he's only 20 minutes away, so I might run down there when he gets closer to the finish line and get some better shots. I feel like a kid and it's December 19th, and Tim is Santa Claus!
Old system isn't quite correct and uses an
under-sized muffler, but it sounded OK when
the manifolds weren't leaking.
Mocking up the new system, starting with the new stainless muffler and working from there. New
stainless collectors on the headers are the foundation--three bolts will be better than the factory's
two for holding everything in alignment. Remflex gaskets will seal it up.
I'm ready to start driving, the weather is warm and dry and the sun is out. Unfortunately, everything I own personally is laid up and the Limited is the closest to being ready to go again. The '35 Lincoln is obviously not going to be ready any time soon and the '29 Cadillac needs its springs rebuilt, which would have been done by now except that stupid Lincoln is sucking up most of my resources. My business (which is technically me) owns about 30 other old cars, but there's a difference between the cars I own (I love them) and the cars I sell (they're just things to sell) so it's not quite the same thing. Even this exhaust system is a stretch, as I'm sure it'll be somewhat expensive. Tim hasn't given me an ETA for completion simply because he doesn't know how long it'll take to get the stainless he needs, but it should be ready to go in time for the tour at the end of this month (May). I'm extremely eager, this project has taken the better part of a year.
Tim really does some beautiful work--if you're in northeast Ohio and need exhaust work that looks like art, give him a call. Check out this 1960 Impala he finished recently: